Obama Improves Veterans' Care

U.S. President Barack Obama is making it easier for U.S. war veterans to receive treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, a form of mental suffering once considered a taboo subject to discuss.

In his weekly address Saturday, Mr. Obama said the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is ending a years-old practice that made it difficult for veterans to receive care for PTSD. They no longer will have to produce evidence proving a specific event caused their condition.

Mr. Obama says he is expanding health care for veterans, as well as working to prevent and end homelessness among those who return from wars.

A 2008 study by the Washington-based think tank RAND Corporation said almost one-fifth of U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression.

The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health describes PTSD as an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event. Symptoms include flashbacks, emotional numbness and outbursts of anger.